According to Khan(!), Detroit has sent Jan Mursak and Cory Emmerton back down to the AHL affiliate, Grand Rapids Griffins. Both youngsters managed to record their first career NHL goals during their brief stints with the big club.

Swapping out Datsyuk and Cleary for Mursak and Emmerton? Yeah – I’ll take that trade.

Still…it’s nice to know that our youth in the minors is seasoning at an acceptable pace. Mursak just turned 23 and Emmerton is only 22 himself. Little Tomas Tatar is only 20, himself.

We’ve seen the likes of Tatar, Mursak, Emmerton, and Kindl being called into the lineup with all of the injuries we’ve been battling through. And all of them have shown promise that they’ll be a mainstay in years to come. Kindl is actually starting to look like he belongs in the NHL…though his best game was against the worst team.

Regardless, it’s nice to know that we have some capable kids waiting in the Wings in Grand Rapids…and it’s also nice to know that we don’t need as many of them to patch up a recovering roster.